New Mexico campaign

New Mexico campaign
Part of the American Civil War
Depiction of the Battle of Glorieta Pass during the campaign, dubbed the "Gettysburg of the West"
Date February–April 1862 Location New Mexico Territory Result Union victory Confederate retreat from New Mexico Territory Confederate loss of Confederate Arizona
Belligerents
United States of America New Mexico Territory Colorado Territory	Confederate States of America Confederate Arizona Confederate Texas
Commanders and leaders
Edward Canby Isaac Lynde	Henry Hopkins Sibley Thomas Green
Strength
5,142	2,515[1]
Casualties and losses
~166 killed, ~246 wounded, ~222 missing or captured	~400 killed or wounded, ~500 missing/captured[2]

The New Mexico campaign was a military operation of the trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War from February to April 1862 in which Confederate Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley invaded the northern New Mexico Territory in an attempt to gain control of the Southwest, including the gold fields of Colorado and the ports of California. Historians regard this campaign as the most ambitious Confederate attempt to establish control of the American West and to open an additional theater in the war. It was an important campaign in the war's Trans-Mississippi Theater, and one of the major events in the history of the New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War.

The Confederates advanced north along the Rio Grande from Fort Bliss in Texas. They won the Battle of Valverde but failed to capture Fort Craig or force the surrender of the main Union Army in the territory. They continued north across the border towards Santa Fe and Fort Union, leaving that Union force in their rear. At Glorieta Pass, the Confederates defeated another Union force from Fort Union, but were forced to retreat following the destruction of the wagon train containing most of their supplies.

Confederate success in this failed campaign would have denied the Union a major source of the gold and silver necessary to finance its war effort, and the Union navy would have had the additional difficulty of attempting to blockade several hundred miles of coastline in the Pacific.^[3][4] A Confederate victory would have also diverted Union troops which, following the invasion, were used to fight Native American tribes on the plains and in the Rockies.^[5]